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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Senate Passes Erickson Bill to Stabilize Mental Health/Mental Retardation Funding Essential community-based services would receive annual cost-of-living adjustments. Harrisburg – Legislation sponsored by Sen. Ted Erickson (R-26) to establish consistent support for community mental health and mental retardation services was approved by the state Senate today. The senator said Senate Bill 1373, the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Maintenance of Community Services Act, will establish a funding mechanism that consistently supports community-based services for individuals with mental retardation or mental illness receiving services in Pennsylvania. "Currently, providers of these essential community-based services, which are preferred by consumers and their families, face threats to funding every year, creating severe instability in the system and putting the quality of care for hundreds of thousands of individuals at risk," said Erickson, who chairs the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee. In an effort to stabilize the community-based system and insure the health and safety of individuals with mental retardation and mental illness, the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Maintenance of Community Services Act will require the Secretary of the Budget to allocate the appropriate funding level for existing and new services, as well as require the allocation of a cost-of-living adjustment for that funding level every year, Erickson said. "There is a wide array of state programs subjected to the
back-and-forth debate and scrutiny of the annual budget process, and
rightly so. But in the case of mental health, mental retardation and
early intervention, reliable and consistent care is crucial. It is
neither right nor necessary to put quality care at risk," the senator
said. "Community care providers do wonderful work, day in and day out,
and the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Maintenance of Community
Services Act will allow them to focus on their clients and their
families, and not on the state budget process." Contact: Tom Golden
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